Unrequited
by HaiJu
Summary: Not all sacrifices die. An October 10th oneshot.


Author's Note:

_Well, it's been a long time. Life will do that to you, I guess. This is a little oneshot that's quite literally been sitting on my computer for years. This being finals week, I of course dragged it out of its obscurity, made a few minor changes, and decided to post it. If you like it (or even if you don't), please review!  
_

_**Spoilers: **This was written before everyone knew who the Hokage was, so he's never called by name, and his relationship with Naruto is left ambiguous. So really, no spoilers except some minor ones from Kakashi Gaiden._

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**Unrequited**

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Nine candles stood in a semicircle around the empty basket; the tiny flames shuddered as the man's arm reached over and picked up a brush and bowl. In the flickering light a kunai flashed once; blood spilled into a shallow bowl, filling its wooden curves near to the brim. Two pairs of eyes watched the dark liquid fall; at last, a pair of hands came out and cupped the wound. Green light flared for a moment, lighting up their shadowy faces: A young woman, brown hair cut short, clan markings dark on her cheeks, looking into the calm blue eyes of a man at once too young and too old—the fourth Hokage. He offered her a small smile as she lifted her hands from his healed skin.

He turned and picked up a brush, dipping it into the blood and writing on the floor between the candles with delicate precision, writing out dizzying swirls and ancient lettering that would become a seal.

The medic nin watched him with sad, tired eyes. "He'll be shunned."

"No," he said stubbornly. "He'll be a hero. The man drew the last kanji and carefully set the brush aside. He stood up and looked at her seriously. "He_ will._ He's saving Konoha."

"What about_ you_? You're the one that's going to--" she broke off, and he could hear her choke back a sob.

He touched her cheek, smiling a little sadly. "Mine is the easy part. He's the one who will have to control it. He'll have to become a great shinobi to contain its power." He grinned suddenly, the corners of his bright blue eyes crinkling. "Don't let those stuffy elders lock him away, alright? He deserves a good life." He rested a hand on her shoulder, staring at her until she met his eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise," she sniffed, and straightened, wiping a hand across her eyes. She blinked, smoothed out hour face; her emotions under control. "Shall I fetch him, Hokage-sama?" They'd played this game before; leader and subordinate, command and obedience. Forget for the moment the meaning of who he was and what he was doing.

"Yes—quickly." He nodded curtly, allowing her to play the role she needed—that they both needed—to get through this.

She had no sooner left when a new figure arrived in a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a silver-haired jounin, leaning heavily on a huge mastiff as he clutched his bloodied shoulder. The wounded nin had lost his forehead protector, and the blood-red sharingan stared at the hokage wildly.

"Kakashi," the blond shinobi pocketed the kunai that had found its way into his hand and moved to support the younger man.

"Sensei…it has reached the inner forest area," Kakashi winced as he straightened, giving the mastiff a grateful nod. It barked gruffly and vanished in a second cloud of smoke. "We've slowed it down—that's all. Ninjitsu can only do so much. Genjitsus were ineffective—not even five of the Uchiha working together could phase it. Taijitsu was equally useless."

The Hokage quirked an eyebrow. "Who…"

Kakashi sighed. "Gai, who else?" The eccentric chuunin had been Kakashi's self-proclaimed rival since their academy days. "He opened the Gates and managed to stagger it for a moment, but if I hadn't stepped in…well."

"Casualties?"

"Nearly a third of the defensive force."

The Hokage swore quietly.

"There's no stopping it, sensei. No one since the First has had the ability to subdue that kind of chakra. We'll need to evacuate the villagers. As it is, most of the ninja will die." The jounin stated it as simple fact, without fear or accusation, though the tired monotone was tinged by hints of despair. Even if the civilians survived, it would be the end of Konoha as a hidden village. Their military force was shattered. The past few decades fraught with warfare, their hard-won peace, all of it would be obsolete. All because of a power that was unleashed too rashly, without control, everything would be lost.

"I've found a way." Serious blue eyes met mismatched red and black. The Fourth could see Kakashi's uncomprehending frown, even under his ever-present mask. Before the younger man could voice his questions, the medic nin appeared in the doorway.

Her dark eyes widened as she saw the bleeding jounin. "Kakashi!"

Kakashi's eyes fell on the infant cradled in her arms, then widened in sudden understanding. "Human sacrifice?" he hissed, his grip on the Fourth's shoulder tightening.

"This is the only way, Kakashi," he said quietly. "Don't think you can talk me out of it. Rin already tried, and you know she's more persuasive than you'll ever be." He gently released Kakashi, and after making sure the ninja wouldn't fall, stepped over and took the sleeping child from Rin.

"Rin, heal Kakashi's arm," he ordered quietly. "I need him to take a message back to the front."

"Sir." She knelt beside Kakashi, pulling him to the floor, and with a few quick seals activated a healing jutsu. She placed palms that glowed with pale green chakra over the ragged wound on Kakashi's shoulder. For a few minutes, the only sounds were the hum of chakra and Kakashi's harsh, pained breathing.

Kakashi could only stare at his former sensei as the man calmly picked up the brush and began a second pattern of seals on the baby's exposed stomach with quick, light strokes. The baby squirmed under the ticklish sensation. Hokage stroked its shoulder with a callused thumb, a part of him that was undistracted by his task marveling at the velvety softness. The flailing fist slowed and latched onto the Fourth's thumb. "What a grip, little one," he crooned softly. "You'll make a fine ninja someday."

"You can't do this!" Kakashi burst out suddenly. "Sensei, you'll…" he trailed off. Like his teammate, he could not bring himself to say it. "You're the Hokage," he added almost plaintively.

The Fourth smiled wryly. He set down his brush once more and blew gently on the glistening kanji. Any smudging would render the jutsu useless. "Exactly," he answered Kakashi at last. "I will protect this village with my life—just as you do, whenever you're on a mission. That's what being Hokage is all about. It's being ready to die to keep Konoha safe."

The young jounin glanced away angrily. "Sarutobi managed to get through his Hokageship without dying."

"Yes, well the Sandaime never had a full-fledged demon to deal with," the Fourth commented dryly, absently wrapping his fingers around the baby's tiny fist, which hadn't relinquished its hold. The younger ninja had no answer to that, and lapsed into a defeated silence.

The silence held for a few minutes, broken only by the sound of distant thunder. They all knew it was no storm that made the sound. Kakashi had been there, only moments ago. He'd seen their massive forests casually decimated by the flick of that creature's tail. Many ninja had died from the creature's poisonous aura alone. He knew, deep down, there was no other way—that the Fourth's selflessness could save them all. Kakashi could not feel selfless. He wanted his Sensei to live, no matter how selfish it sounded. But the Hokage was right. There was no other way for the Leaf to survive.

The green chakra faded, and Rin lowered her hands. "That's all I can do for now," she murmured. "Be careful. No fighting."

"Mah, you know me," he waved off her warning lightly, sounding more like himself. Kakashi rotated his arm experimentally, then gave her hand a grateful squeeze. "Thanks, Rin." He stood up, rubbing at his sharingan furiously. "Stupid eye's watering," he muttered thickly. Rin stood too, resting a hand on Kakashi's elbow, more for emotional support this time.

"Are you ready, Hatake?" The Fourth asked in his best Hokage tone.

Kakashi fell into the game, just as Rin had. He inclined his head sharply, standing ramrod straight. "Ready, Hokage-sama."

The blond shinobi smiled, and his eyes turned to Rin. "Rin, if there are many wounded…" It was a request, and not an order. Rin had not been active on the battlefield in years.

The medic nin's gentle eyes hardened with resolve. "I will go. I'll do what I can, Sensei!"

He smiled. "That's my kunoichi."

"Hokage, your message?" Kakashi's voice was hoarse again, for some reason.

The man's eyes narrowed with determination. "Tell them to hold on a little longer. I'm on my way."

Kakashi nodded once, raised his hand to make a seal—but hesitated. "Sensei…" He struggled, but the words wouldn't form.

"Thank you." Rin said for both of them. _We love you. _

The jounin swallowed hard and nodded, then quickly finished the seals. Just before they vanished in a cloud of smoke, they saw the Yondaime smile, just for them. They knew it was goodbye.

Knowing that lives were lost with every moment, the Fourth moved quickly. He laid the sleeping baby in the middle of the blood markings on the floor, silently blessing Rin's thoughtfulness in providing something soft for a makeshift bed. He gently extracted his thumb from the tiny fingers and found himself pausing to admire the small perfection living right before him. The child was all pink and soft, his face a gathering of wrinkles under a thatch of shocking yellow hair—as if the infant was already defying convention in the first short hours of his life.

The Hokage drew his kunai slowly and winced. This was the worst part, but necessary to the sealing. Steeling himself, he picked up one of the soft, perfect forearms and nicked a shallow cut in the skin. The baby stirred, and its tiny brow puckered. The Fourth swiftly picked up the clean brush and soaked the tip in the rosy fluid that bloomed on the baby's skin. He lifted his left hand and began sketching the final seal on the palm.

The first wail nearly made him jump out of his skin. Luckily he had been holding the brush away from him, or the seal would have been reduced to a blot. The child's cries were startling loud, high and piercing, tiny body arched with the effort as he screamed his pain to a lone man and a great, empty building. It was a deafening, insistent sound, but so…frail, so weak in its own right that the Yondaime cringed for being the cause of it.

"Hush now," he crooned, hoping his voice would sooth since his hands were both occupied. "I'm sorry, little shinobi," he murmured as he flew through the complex calligraphy. "You never asked for this, did you? But Konoha is in danger—" he stopped with a short laugh. "That sounds cheap, doesn't it? But it's true. You and I, we have to be the heroes today. Some heroes die, you know. But sometimes they're the ones that live on…the ones that make the future."

He set down the brush with a sigh. The child's sobs had subsided and it now blinked up at the Yondaime with teary blue eyes. "You're brave, little shinobi," as much to himself as the child, he murmured. "You'll be alright."

The tall blond stood up and glanced out the window one last time; the fire on the horizon was getting closer. It was time. He leaned down and put his hand briefly on the child's yellow head in a silent blessing. "Thank you, Uzumaki Naruto." Then he was gone.

Every man, woman and child who had ever molded chakra felt it. They felt the flash of chakra like a bright fire in the night flare up and die away into nothing—the Fourth. They felt the dark power of the demon coursing toward the village, faster than thought—but drawn, shrunk, compacted until it was a mere ember that vanished, sealed away. And everyone knew, that night, that Konoha was saved. Everyone knew that a hero had died for the village he had sworn to protect.

But unacknowledged, unasked for, that night another hero's sacrifice was just beginning.

That night, a wail pierced the silence that hung over Konoha, inconsolable.

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End file.
